“American medicine has improved the lives of billions on the planet.”

It ultimately depends on what we mean by “improved”. If we simply speak of length of life then yes it has improved lives. But mere life is not the good life. What do we make of Book X of Aristotle’s Ethics? If the contemplative life is the one most likely to bring happiness, and the length of that ability for contemplation seems to play little or no role, then it would seem that the only human thing that is worth preserving for the life is the mind. So when we “improve” the lives of those in the developing world, teaching them to rely on modern medicine, brought to us by modern mathematical physics, we in fact make them more ignorant of the intellectual problems of the science behind that medicine, thus perhaps making them more ignorant. So did we improve their lives or not?

“Obama was never that big an enigma.”

You, of course, are absolutely right. Walk the dog back and it is clear that NRO article could have been written a year ago. Calling Obama enigmatic, ever, was wasted hope he would turn out to be a liberal version of Bill Clinton instead of the nakedly fascistic progressive he obviously is now, and was back then. That is the second reason I gag when I use the word “hope”. I am sure you can figure out the first.

The good news is: since Obama has dispensed with his charade, so can we. Bipartisanship, centrism and civility in political dialogue are dead. That NRO article would not have been believed a year ago. Now it is established fact. By foisting a radical Leftist agenda on this country, the Democrats have declared open war on conservatives and Republicans. The fog lifts, the field of battle is clear and the lines are drawn. This is good. There is nothing more energizing than clarity of vision, and of purpose.

The thing is, it could have been written a year ago. Obama was never that big an enigma. We already had his books to go by, his professional history, his voting record, and his personal and professional associations, which are the most one-sided and single-note of any president’s in my lifetime.

Everything about Obama pointed to exactly the performance we are seeing now — before we elected him. The only thing that has surprised me is how quickly and nakedly he has gone to the fascist progressivism.

Sooner the better!

That is an excellent article by VDH over at NRO. The gist of it is: look at what Obama is doing and that tells you how he thinks and who he really is. The enigmatic One is showing his true colors.

In 70 days he’s shown us something else as well. He is not infallible. He’s made more gaffes and mistakes in two months than he did in two years of campaigning. Manning his Administration has been a debacle. Sibelius is the sixth tax cheat he’s nominated. “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time is enemy action”. What’s the sixth time tell you?

When Obama’s acting presidential he appears to be… uh, acting. The economy teeters and he goes shopping for a swing set. Discussing his proposals on camera he turns not just glib, but downright giddy. In short, he goes to Washington to walk on water, and steps on his crank.

In a way this is “Good”. It’s painful to watch, but maybe now more people will look past the false prophet persona and take a gander at his bankrupt policies.

Don’t diss the people who look out after you during the nighttime hours, so you early-bird softies can sleep soundly in your beds, with someone there to look out after you when something goes terribly wrong at an unexpected hour.

Groundless early-bird moral preening doesn’t become you at all, Professor!